Jean-Claude Baker

American restaurateur

Jean-Claude Baker (born Jean-Claude Julien Léon Tronville, April 18, 1943 – January 15, 2015) was a French-American restaurateur. He was born in Dijon, France.

He met U.S.-born French entertainer Josephine Baker while he was working as a bellhop in Paris at the age of fourteen in 1958.[1] He became the last of twelve children adopted into Baker's Rainbow Family.[2][3][4] In 1994 he co-authored a biography of Josephine Baker, Josephine: The Hungry Heart, described as a "shocking look into the star's seriously whitewashed past".[5]

Baker was found dead at his home in East Hampton, New York on January 15, 2015, of an apparent suicide.[6] He was 71.

References

change
  1. Profile, observer.com
  2. Loud, Lance, "Mommie Gayest", The Advocate, March 22, 1994.
  3. New York Times coverage of Jean-Claude Baker, May 11, 2000.
  4. New York Daily News coverage of Jean-Claude Baker[permanent dead link], May 6, 1999
  5. Loud, Lance (March 1994). "Mommie gayest". The Advocate: 69.
  6. New York Times obituary